Before the Future
by SleepyNu
Summary: It's only a few years before Lavos, and yet two best friends find a way into trouble!


Before the Future: Crono and Lucca  
  
By: Me! HAH!  
  
  
  
"Dammit..." she hissed, waving out the pain in her hands after a simple tweak had sent hot  
  
sparks of white flailing through the air. The young inventor frowned; must have been the wrong  
  
doohickey to mess with. Her frowned increased when a loud bang was heard, a few more sparks,  
  
followed by a thin trail of smoke, snaking it's way upwards and out the window.  
  
Lucca watched her small mechanism die in mild frustration, and then proceeded to pick it  
  
up and throw the lifeless bundle of junk to a corner of her room, where it landed in a pile of other (at  
  
least twenty more) failed attempts. "Third times a charm my ass..." she said out loud to herself.  
  
She had been doing that a lot lately, perhaps out of boredom. Why couldn't she just concentrate  
  
lately?   
  
The purple haired teen decided it would be best not to try again and just go read a good  
  
book. Lucca stood up to stand when a very annoying spasm of pain flew through her back. She  
  
groaned and decided it would be best not to sit five hours stooped over various wires and metal.  
  
Suddenly, Lucca was also hit with another familiar sensation in her stomach and heard a rather  
  
large, unpleasant growling. She supposed it was also not a good idea to go eight hours without  
  
eating. Lucca turned and, without protesting to her angry stomach, marched out the door of her  
  
room.  
  
Open...  
  
"Empty."  
  
...Close  
  
Open...  
  
"Empty."  
  
...Close  
  
Open...  
  
"Damn! Why isn't there any food in this house?" she growled in frustration, and she thought... did  
  
her stomach just growl in agreement? Lifting her arm high up in the air, Lucca attempted to feel  
  
around on the top shelf for anything to satisfy her belly. Feeling something with her finger tip, she  
  
stood on her toes. "C'mon...almost...yeah!" Our young inventor, with triumph gleaming in her eyes  
  
reached her prize...  
  
...To find it was a piece of Jerky  
  
She promptly threw it across the room where it smacked against the wooden wall and fell piteously  
  
to the ground. "Is everything made of Jerky these days!?" and she plopped to the ground on her  
  
posterior and then laid back, defeated, staring up at the ceiling.  
  
The lounging girl vaguely heard the front door open and shut. Without turning around, she  
  
already knew who it was. Seconds passed until a head topped with thick, red, spiky hair made itself  
  
appear in her line of vision.  
  
"You know, I don't think it's the right time or place to be stargazing." He stated amusing  
  
himself, and a small grin appeared on his face.  
  
"Shut up. Your blocking my view of the ceiling." She retorted without making a move.  
  
His grin instantaneously grew wider. "Sorry! I didn't know it was so interesting!" Then after a  
  
few seconds as he made himself comfortable sitting down next to his friend, Crono looked around  
  
the house. "Still the local trash heap, I see." He was right, too. Piles upon piles of junk, mostly  
  
scrap metal, littered the house. A neat path where Crono could see the carpet was forged, trailing  
  
to various other rooms of the house, such as the kitchen, where he was currently seated.  
  
"You know us Mad-Scientists," Lucca began, "explode everything and never pick up the  
  
remains." She sounded wearied to Crono, and he wondered at that.  
  
"What's wrong with you today? You sound tired." He thought for a second and quickly  
  
added, "I know. Did your Super Cheese Maker blow up again?" He took her silence as an  
  
affirmative. "Don't worry! You just need to get out of here for a while, get in touch with nature, and  
  
get away from this." He made a movement with his hand gesturing toward the landfill. For Lucca, it  
  
sounded like not too bad of an idea.  
  
"That's insulting! Scientists never leave their projects unfinished!" she declared. Seeing a  
  
skeptic stare from her friend, she said, "Well, but a good old fashion camping trip sure does sound  
  
refreshing!" Crono made a triumphant nod and a stray spike of red sticking out of his head bobbed  
  
happily up and down brushing his forehead. "But first!" Lucca said in a diplomatic tone, "I'm  
  
starving. Did you bring anything to eat?"  
  
Crono's grin reappeared on his face and he reached his hand into his bag that never left his  
  
side, and pulled out a large lump of bread and cheese. He passed it happily to his hungry friend,  
  
and she took it gratefully but, giving it an evil eye nevertheless.  
  
"What the hell do you think I'm doing? Fasting?" she stated incredulously, yet stuffing her  
  
mouth all the same. "Next time, I won't be so happy unless you manage to pull out a turkey." After  
  
swallowing the rest of the offered food, Crono watched his friend race up the stairs to her room to  
  
pack her things. He had already packed his own.  
  
"Ah, a beautiful day! Clean air and green trees!"   
  
Lucca sighed, did Crono ever plan ahead? "So where exactly are we going, Mr. Adventure?"  
  
she asked flatly.  
  
The two walked a few more steps before he answered her, "I think...Porre? How about  
  
there? I haven't been down there for a long time." His eyes glazed over in reminiscence before  
  
adding, "such tasty beer.." Crono sounded genuinely happy today. Lucca noticed the slight hop in  
  
his step, and he had a pleasant look on his face while the sun shown down through the canopy of  
  
trees and caste a shadow all about them.   
  
They were walking on the old dirt road that took them to the bridge that passed to the lower  
  
continent. They were making a very long walk from there. The friends figured they would simply  
  
enjoy a night in the woods by the fire half way through their trip. Crono was right, though, she  
  
thought, It was a beautiful day. The sun was already setting, to make a golden glow along the path.  
  
The travelers soon realized how tired they really were.  
  
"Maybe we should stop over there for the night?" Crono half stated, half asked. He was  
  
pointing toward a convenient clearing a ways off the road. He wanted to sleep and eat.  
  
"Fine with me." She complied easily.  
  
They both stayed up that night making a small fire, joking around and eating some fruit  
  
Lucca bought before leaving Truce. When weariness overcame them both, they laid out their own  
  
sleeping blankets a few feet away from each other.   
  
Lucca rested her head, and after moments of silence save the sound of crickets and the  
  
occasional hoot of an owl, another noise greeted her senses none too politely.  
  
"Shut up." her voice was muffled in her blankets. Unfortunately, Crono was too deep in his  
  
sleep to close his mouth and breathe out his nose. Lucca picked up an apple next to her and let it  
  
sail the short distance between her and the noise maker. It hit him in the back of the head.  
  
He rolled over, made a few grumbling noises and became silent.   
  
Night passed and soon morning came. It's too bad Crono and Lucca were forced to wake  
  
up to a loud racket. Crono, surprisingly was the first to awaken. When the world around him came  
  
to focus, he realized what the noise was; a wagon coming down the dirt path. Silently, he cursed  
  
who ever it was that made him get up so early. He turned to wake Lucca, but she was already in the  
  
process of getting up and rolling her sleeping blankets in a neat package. She looked at him, "Go  
  
see who it is. Maybe we can hitch a ride to Porre!" He nodded and walked off toward the road  
  
through the trees.  
  
As Crono walked onto the path, he immediately caught sight of a single horse and a wagon  
  
with a single rider on top. It was a man who seemed to be carrying cargo. The man stopped his  
  
horse as he saw the red head approach.  
  
"Ah, excuse me, sir, you wouldn't happen to be going to Porre would you?" asked Crono,  
  
hesitantly.  
  
The man gave Crono a look that screamed, 'what, are you stupid?', "of course I'm going to  
  
Porre! There's no other town south of here, is there!" He sucked in some breath, "I swear, you  
  
young children..."  
  
Crono, suddenly feeling very stupid, scratched his head and wondered if this old waste of  
  
space was even worth asking, " I was wondering..."  
  
"Yes, yes, I know, you need a ride, do you?" he said impatiently.  
  
"Well, I don't need one, but what the hey! If you're offering!" Before the old man could  
  
protest this boy with no manners, Crono was way ahead of him. "Lucca! C'mon! I got a ride!"  
  
This time the old man heard a female shout in the trees, "Hold on a minute, I'm coming!"  
  
almost no sooner had she said this than she broke through the tree carrying her bags, and Crono's.  
  
"Really? That's great!" She wasted no time in climbing up the back of the wagon and dropping their  
  
bags. She sat down between a few wooden crates on the old dark wood of the rickety wagon.  
  
The old man sat grumbling the whole time, mumbling about the lack of manners in kids  
  
these days. He gave the command for his horse to keep moving again. Crono jumped into the back  
  
of the wagon and sat on a barrel full of who knows what.  
  
  
  
It was still early in the morning and Crono could see dew drops clinging to the ground cover.  
  
The old man was silent, apparently still angry at the audacity of the two 'rude, uncaring, youths'.  
  
Crono decided it was best to make conversation, "So...umm...old man..." He felt a sharp pain in  
  
his leg when Lucca kicked it.  
  
"Klyde" he mumbled.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
He turned to look at them for a moment and Lucca got up to sit on the bench next to him.  
  
"My name is Klyde" he mumbled again.  
  
"Oh right." Grumbled Crono in a very undignified way.   
  
  
  
"I'm Lucca, and this is Crono." Said Lucca, picking up where Crono left off. "What are you  
  
going to Porre for?"  
  
  
  
"Can't you tell? I'm a merchant! I also go back and forth delivering supplies between Truce  
  
and Porre," he sighed, "but I'm getting too old for this." Crono would have commented on that last  
  
part if a look from Lucca hadn't stopped him."What are you children doing out here anyway? Don't  
  
you know it's dangerous?" he changed the subject.  
  
Lucca thought about that. Why would it be dangerous going from Truce to Porre? A lot of  
  
people went between the two villages. Now that he mentioned it..."You're right. I haven't seen  
  
anyone else coming up and down around here much, well the lower continent anyway. Why is that?  
  
Why did you say it was so dangerous?"   
  
"A group of mystics I hear have been running rampant around the village, terrorizing and  
  
thieving." Klyde said sternly and he began to have a small coughing fit. Crono appeared to be  
  
thoroughly interested now.  
  
"They haven't even been caught yet? Just how many of these Mystics are there?" Crono  
  
asked, almost unbelieving of the old man. Klyde gave Crono a rude stare.  
  
"Look young man, I've heard only snippets of these happenings. All I've heard is they've  
  
overtaken most of the soldiers. They must be large to take down the Porre soldiers." He said and  
  
Crono was left to his thoughts. "You kids are just better off staying at an inn for the night and then  
  
going straight back home."  
  
Later on in the day, while the sun was falling behind the mountains to the west, they reached  
  
the town of Porre. It was unusually quiet, noted Lucca.   
  
"It's too quiet." stated Crono softly.   
  
"Talk about pointing out the obvious," said Lucca, monotonously.   
  
"End of the line, kids," came the deep raspy voice of Klyde. "And remember what I said,  
  
just stay indoors." With that, he made a movement with the reins of his horse and it trotted away.  
  
"I don't think I like that old man very much." Crono was scowling after him. "You know he  
  
could've been a lot nicer." 


End file.
